Circling the Wagons around Iran’s Fire

Though Iran isn’t covered in the American press all that much, in the world press right now it is at the center of almost every major story involving the Muslim world.

What Happened?

What Does it Mean?

Pakistan’s president Musharraf was in Iran this week to meet with President Ahmadinajad and Ayatollah Khamenei. His stated goal was to unify the ummah (a political union of muslim peoples). This project is called the IPI (Islamic Peace Initiative?). They also discussed a natural gas pipeline project from Iran to Pakistan.

Meaning: The ummah is not unified. Specifically Iran does not see eye-to-eye with other Muslim countries. Other Muslim countries think this should be fixed.

Hosting Hamas and Fatah in Mecca for talks to hopefully lead to a national unity government.

Secret meetings with Israel to talk about a single State in Israel (not acceptable for Israel)

Support of Siniora’s government in Lebanon against the Hizballah coup attempt.

Support of Sunni tribes in Iraq in the face of increased sectarian killings by the Badr and Sadr militias.

Taking seriously the rumors that Iranian Shi’ites are trying to convert Sunnis.

Attempts to lower the price of oil.

The U.S. is encouraging this move.

The shift is occurring with encouragement from the Bush administration. Its goal is to see an American-backed alliance of Sunni Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, along with a Fatah-led Palestine and Israel, opposing Iran, Syria and the radical groups they support. (source)

Meaning: Saudi Arabia has realized that Iran is attempting to become the new king of the mountain in the ummah. Saudi Arabia plans to replace Egypt as the new leader of the Muslim world.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said to Der Speigel that Iran must play a crucial part in the recovery of stability in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Palestine. He rejected utterly the possibility of violence against Iran.

“Violence leads to a dead end alley for which Iraq, Lebanon and Somalia are examples. It always leads to a worsening of problems,” the Russian official said. (source)

Meaning: Iran is a nuclear client state of Russia and Russia is running static for it.

Ayatollah Khamenei has said that Iran is ready to share its gas reservers with “Muslim brotherly countries, including Pakistan.”

‘Iran is also rich in gas and we are ready to allow Muslim brotherly countries, including Pakistan, to benefit from Iran’s reserves and facilities,’ IRNA quoted Khamenei as saying while referring to the project for laying a pipeline to transfer gas from Iran to India via Pakistan.

He also insisted on unity and solidarity among the Muslim nations. Khamenei was critical of the US and Britain for their support to Israel, which he felt, has allowed the Jewish state to ‘oppress’ Palestine.

‘Any plan on the Middle East will be successful only when it prevents US bullying and puts an end to Zionists’ crimes,’ he said. (source)

Meaning: Pakistan is considering breaking with the U.S. and siding with Iran.

What is the deeper meaning to be found in all this activity around Iran and Pakistan?

The trendline of Israel and the United States is going downward.

Israel lost face last summer in the war against Hizballah. Hizballah lost many fighters, but Israel has not gotten Ehud Goldwasser or Eldad Regev back. Hizballah has rearmed openly with assistance from Iran and Syria. Israel’s weakness invites exploitation from those who would further weaken it, or destroy it utterly.

Toxic domestic politics and destructive, alienated media in the U.S. are hamstringing U.S. efforts to pacify and rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan. When both houses of Congress swung to the Democrats in 2006 the stormclouds on the horizon were obvious. Now Democrats are doing everything they can to undermine the President and the armed forces. The plan in Iraq has been to withdraw without establishing security. They oppose the words “staying the course,” yet they intend to continue withdrawing without establishing security, which is in fact staying the course. All this makes the U.S. appear weak in the eyes of the entire Muslim world.

The trendline of Iran is going up.

Iran is developing nuclear weapons and spitting in the eye of the increasingly weak U.N. Security Council.

Iran is attacking and killing Americans and Iraqis inside Iraq, which is an embarrassment to the U.S. Need I mention that Iran’s invasion of the U.S. sovereign territory of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 has never been punished?

Iran indoctrinated, trained and supplied Hizballah which has embarrassed Israel.

Iran has been hosting Al Qaeda ever since 2001, promoting cross-border terrorism in Afghanistan, and allowing Jihadists such as Zarqawi free passage and supply lines through Iran.

If Iran obtains hegemony in Iraq as it might if the U.S. withdraws too quickly, then it will have a free hand to wage the same kind of war it has been waging against Iraq in Afghanistan, thus dooming the NATO mission there.

Iran is willing to act ruthlessly, and is not bound by any self-destructive rules of engagement.

Iran continues to threaten to destroy Israel and America to no repercussions.

Pakistan is thinking about abandoning the U.S. and allying with Iran instead. This would leave NATO in Afghanistan surrounded by hostile countries, with safe havens for Al Qaeda and Taliban across the Pakistani and Iranian borders and not even the level of cooperation that Pakistan has been supplying so far.

All this must lighten the hearts of Jihadist Vampires and their preachers of Jihad and fill them with dreams of a world-wide KKKaliphate with a monster like Osama bin Laden as the KKKaliph.